Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1887-09-23
SOLDIERS DEPARTMENT.
A ROMANCE FROM LIFE.


home of Squire Ofrroy, in Wrigsville, n
little villa about six miles from here,
ii was the second time that he and the
woman by his side had mado those
VOWS. The romance of their lives is
like the imagining of fertile Drained
story writer 1t was the closing act in
drama upon which the curtain was
rung up moro than twenty years ago.
1t was in june, 1857, that Henry Lob
Icy promising young farmer of
twonty-onc, who had inherited from his
father what was snug little fortune in
those days, first began TO pay his adj
dresses to Minnie ScXcr, farmers
daughter of sixteen, who was then one
of the rural bellies of Beaver County.
She seemed 10 favor him until a dash
ing young Southcrncr named Harvey
johnson, who claimed to belong to one
of the best families of Kentucky, ap-
pearcd in the ncighborhood and be-
came rival of the honest young
farmer for her hand, Then she seemed
to forget that Lcblcy ever existed, and
his suit would have Jared badly but for
Ninnic's father, who brought such
pressure to bear upon his fair daughter
that she ut length unwillingly consent
cd to become Leblcy's wife. II was
very evident, however, that her infatu-
alton for johnson was complete. The
latter scemcl greatly affected by tho
loss of his sweetheart and disappeared
shortly before the wedding.
Tho hoI c,nr,nl,, ,,oegoI |
when Mrs. Lcblcy received letter
purporting to come from an old |
schoolmatc, who had gone to reside
in Ohio, and who urged the newly
made bride to pay her n visit With
her husbands consent, Mrs, Lcblcy
left home ostcnsibly for that purpose,
but never from that time until few
again. When the time set for her re-
turn had passed her husband and her
father made every effort TO find her,
but without avail.
Three years passed by, and then the
deserted husband married again. The
father of the missing bride had never
recovered from the shock of his
daughters disappearance, and had
died n broken-hcartcd man within
year after its occurrence, leaving to his
son-in-law property amounting to some
SS0,000-all he posscsscd-with tho
condition that the legatcc should never
relax his efforts to find his missing
how great her ollcnscs might have
been, he should make suitable pro-
visions for her
When the civil war broke out in 1861
Lcblcy was one of the first three years
men enlisted from Pennsylvania. He
passed through many battles I'M
scathed, but at Gettysburg he received
what the surgeons feared would prove
a mortal wound. His young wife,
whose tenderness and truth had con-
solcd him for the disappointment and
unhappincss of his first marriage, has
tened from her country home to her
husbands bedside, and during the long
weeks that he lowered between life and
death, nursed him with unrcmitting
devotion.
He at length recovered sufficiently
t. be taken home. and when another
month had passed he rcjoned his regi-
ment and served to the end of the war.
His wfe's health had been undermined
by her long vigil at his bedside. She
fell into gradual decline, and not
long after Lees army had surrendered
and her husband had been mustered
OFT of service, she died.
Wifclcss for the second time, Henry
Loblcy seemed to lose interest in all
things around him, and in his great
grief to shrink from all human COM
panionship. For the past twenty years
he has been Il silent, solitary man,
trusting the conduct of his affairs al
most wholly TO n nephew whom he had
adopted and whose young wife was the
only other inmate of the quiet house
hold.
A few weeks ago there was placed in
his hand u letter addressed to his dead
fathcr-in-law. AT sight of the familiar
he trcmbled and grew
pale. 1t was from the long-abscnt
wife of his youth. Hastily breaking
the seal he read that she was poor
outcast, who, wcarying of her wrctched
life, prayed her fathers forgiveness
and implorcd him to take her back to
his heart and home.
The letter was dated at Chicago, and
within n few hours Lrblcy was on his
way to that city. What passed be- !
tween husband and wife ut their first =,
of course. is known only to /
themselves. 1t has been since learned
That Mrs. Lcblcy elopcd with johnson, =
who overcame her scruplcs by an lndi- !
ana divorce and n marriage with him.
After few years of wretchcdness and
poverty he had cruelty abandoned her,
md she had gradually sunk lower and
lower until mt last she had resolved,
like the prodigal son,to arise and go to {
her father \
The sight of his first sweetheart end
wife, whose memory, in spite of him -
self, Lcblcy had fomdly cherished in i
his heart throughout the long years,
all the ardent passion of his :
youth. He forgot and forgave every I
thing, and in the little dusty room d
which Squire Oflrcy calls his office, +
Henry Lebley and Minnie SeXer re- !,
peated the same VOWS of love and con- Z
stancy that they had made TO (
each other three decades ago. Despite I,
the long years of suffering through =
which she has come TO peace and rest +,
at last, Mrs. Lebley's face is beauti- :
full one ,still.-Economy (Pa.) Cor.
Press.